Hi, i'm currently working here in saudi arabia for almost 4 months now. our manager asked me to look for a archiving system/software, out of curiosity i checked their NAS (synology RS 814) and it has 16TB drive and only 2GB is currently used, they also didn't know what exactly the use of their NAS. the only thing configured on their nas is, it's currently joined in the domain..

we also have O365 and they are currently using the sharepoint as their main backup area.

I'm new to this kind of environment...and also with NAS. but i've found some good manual from synology that i am reading almost everyday. i found out that they have a cloud station package.

Is it cost efficient to just buy an archiving software/system or just used the cloud station package from synology and buy a scanner with ethernet port. and used that synology as the archiving software/system/backup area?

9 Replies

Syncing and archiving are two different things. A quick look at the cloud station software and it looks like it just syncs. Archiving to me is moving (not sync/replicating) data from one location to another. Things like old projects that are no longer needed on production equipment.

Syncing and archiving are two different things. A quick look at the cloud station software and it looks like it just syncs. Archiving to me is moving (not sync/replicating) data from one location to another. Things like old projects that are no longer needed on production equipment.

So, with that said, what are you trying to accomplish?

oh, but when i sync the files it is already stored in the NAS, meaning it is already served as a backup. can you enlighten me more?

is it possible the files will be lost in the synology if it's deleted on the client area??

and what if the user just used the shared folder in the synology just for backing up their files? does it make the synology an archiving software/system?

I can only speak to what I've heard from Carbonite customers but we had a lot of people with Synology NAS' found getting an automated backup solution and backing up to the NAS or the cloud rather than just using the NAS' backup tool to be a better use of their time. You can use Carbonite Server Backup or a similar product to automatically back up directly to the NAS and then sync that data with the cloud.

Syncing and archiving are two different things. A quick look at the cloud station software and it looks like it just syncs. Archiving to me is moving (not sync/replicating) data from one location to another. Things like old projects that are no longer needed on production equipment.

So, with that said, what are you trying to accomplish?

oh, but when i sync the files it is already stored in the NAS, meaning it is already served as a backup. can you enlighten me more?

is it possible the files will be lost in the synology if it's deleted on the client area??

and what if the user just used the shared folder in the synology just for backing up their files? does it make the synology an archiving software/system?

You'll need to look at what the software does and compare it to your goals. For example, here we create project directories for the work that we do. While the project is live we backup the files daily. However, when the project has been completed, we make a final backup, then I archive the project. Archiving means moving the files from place 1 to place 2.

Sync/Replicating is not really backup, but can be used like that in a failure situation. One distinct way to show replicating isn't backup is that you can replicate damaged files or a virus or malware. You'll need to figure, first, what your goals are and then work the solution around them.

Syncing and archiving are two different things. A quick look at the cloud station software and it looks like it just syncs. Archiving to me is moving (not sync/replicating) data from one location to another. Things like old projects that are no longer needed on production equipment.

So, with that said, what are you trying to accomplish?

oh, but when i sync the files it is already stored in the NAS, meaning it is already served as a backup. can you enlighten me more?

is it possible the files will be lost in the synology if it's deleted on the client area??

and what if the user just used the shared folder in the synology just for backing up their files? does it make the synology an archiving software/system?

You'll need to look at what the software does and compare it to your goals. For example, here we create project directories for the work that we do. While the project is live we backup the files daily. However, when the project has been completed, we make a final backup, then I archive the project. Archiving means moving the files from place 1 to place 2.

Sync/Replicating is not really backup, but can be used like that in a failure situation. One distinct way to show replicating isn't backup is that you can replicate damaged files or a virus or malware. You'll need to figure, first, what your goals are and then work the solution around them.

this what i'm thinking. create a shared folder for cloud station in nas. and create a folder from client side to where they can store their files that needs to backup/archive and it will be sync to the shared folder in the NAS.

i will tell the users here that the folder is only used for backing up their files/archiving.

here's another follow up question. if the hard drive of the user or pc fails/corrupt, does the synced files stored in the NAS will also be corrupted.?

Syncing and archiving are two different things. A quick look at the cloud station software and it looks like it just syncs. Archiving to me is moving (not sync/replicating) data from one location to another. Things like old projects that are no longer needed on production equipment.

So, with that said, what are you trying to accomplish?

oh, but when i sync the files it is already stored in the NAS, meaning it is already served as a backup. can you enlighten me more?

is it possible the files will be lost in the synology if it's deleted on the client area??

and what if the user just used the shared folder in the synology just for backing up their files? does it make the synology an archiving software/system?

You'll need to look at what the software does and compare it to your goals. For example, here we create project directories for the work that we do. While the project is live we backup the files daily. However, when the project has been completed, we make a final backup, then I archive the project. Archiving means moving the files from place 1 to place 2.

Sync/Replicating is not really backup, but can be used like that in a failure situation. One distinct way to show replicating isn't backup is that you can replicate damaged files or a virus or malware. You'll need to figure, first, what your goals are and then work the solution around them.

this what i'm thinking. create a shared folder for cloud station in nas. and create a folder from client side to where they can store their files that needs to backup/archive and it will be sync to the shared folder in the NAS.

i will tell the users here that the folder is only used for backing up their files/archiving.

here's another follow up question. if the hard drive of the user or pc fails/corrupt, does the synced files stored in the NAS will also be corrupted.?

Probably not. What you are describing is backup. Period.

If this is truly what you are trying to accomplish, then you might want to look at using Veeam Endpoint Backup and just use the NAS as a target/repository for the backups. Using this software will allow you also to have multiple backups per PC. The only caveat is that if your NAS dies, obviously all the backups die. You can also do a bare metal restore with this software and the price of the software is nice too......it's free.